Folks everywhere are feeling the effects of the recession. You may be using mystery shopping to supplement that small unemployment check you are receiving every month while you search for a new full time job. Or perhaps your neighbors or friends are struggling with finances and looking up every alley for little bit of extra work. The truth is that work is hard to come by these days, and that…
Make More Money Mystery Shopping By Improving Your Organizational Skills
If you’ve put off getting yourself organized as a mystery shopper, you could be losing money without even knowing it. You may think a disorganized work life would just lead to a little bit of chaos and stress from time to time, but there’s much more to it than that. Here why you should take a little time and organize your mystery shopping life today! Know What’s Going On. You…
How To Tell if A Mystery Shopping Assignment Is A Waste of Time
After you have completed even a handful of mystery shopping assignments, you likely have developed the understanding that mystery shopping can cost your money just as it can make you money. There are a number of hidden costs associated with mystery shopping that many new mystery shoppers fail to take into account, such as the travel costs and the non-reimbursed portion of a required purchase. After you take these costs…
How To Handle Sticky Mystery Shopping Situations
Often, a mystery shopping site visit will be a fairly “textbook” event. You shop around, casually interact with salespeople, and make your purchases. But occasionally mystery shopping assignments turn into more than a mystery shopper bargained for. Perhaps it is due to complicated assignment requirements, or maybe a salesperson is on to you. For whatever reason, these complications are a good reason to stay on your toes while you are…
How To Get Your Mystery Shopping Report Approved The First Time (And Get Paid Faster!)
Each day that you are caught in a vicious Q&A session with your scheduler about your report is another day you aren’t getting paid for your time and efforts on a mystery shopping assignment. For mystery shoppers who want to get paid faster (and who doesn’t?), the trick lies in getting your report accurate and complete on the first go-round. Here are some tips to follow to ensure your report…
The Top 3 Things Every Mystery Shopper Needs To Know About Timed Shops
Perhaps one of the biggest headaches for mystery shoppers everywhere is the timing requirement on mystery shopping assignments. After all, you have a lot of details to keep track of and remember from the time you walk into a shop location until the time you leave, and watching the clock at various points during your site visit can be a big annoyance. Yet timing is a critical element in how…
What You Can Learn From Past Mystery Shopping Mistakes
There is no formal training to be a mystery shopping. Everything you learn is on-the-job training that you do along the way. With every assignment you complete, you gain more experience and become a better mystery shopper. You refine important skills you need to be a great mystery shopper and you learn new strategies for combating issues you may run into on the job site and with your scheduler. Perhaps…
4 Ways To Prevent Identity Theft For Mystery Shoppers
Mystery shoppers often become the target of identity theft simply by the fact that their credit information is more often used and accessed. Your credit card or check card information can be stolen by the salesperson or wait staff on your mystery shop assignment can steal your credit card information with a simple swipe of your card through a special machine. There may be various false websites that appear to…
Good news, bad news, and a warning about mystery shopping certifications.
With so much economic turmoil today, mystery shoppers everywhere are looking for ways to make more money. You may be looking at picking up extra assignments or traveling outside your normal mystery shopping territory to make more money. You may also have thought about getting certified through the Mystery Shopping Providers Association as a way to earn some extra cash. Most mystery shoppers have mixed feelings about mystery shopping certifications,…
Stretch Your Household Budget With Mystery Shopping (Grocery, Gas, and Clothing Shops)
People across the country are being affected by the deepening recession. If you haven’t already been laid off or had a salary reduction, you likely know someone who has been affected. You may be saving your pennies for what may happen in the coming months, or you are scrimping just to make ends meet. In whatever ways the recession may be affecting you, you can use the right combination of…